Just about every great religious and philosophical tradition has some version of the Golden Rule. It's an ethical framework dating back some 4,000 years to ancient Egypt. 2,000 years ago, at a time when common Jewish thinking was "an eye for an eye" retributive justice, the Sermon on the Mount upped the standard. In the context of explaining our heavenly Father giving good … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Extends the Trajectory from the Golden Rule to the Platinum Rule
Tradition
Beatnik Christianity Calls for Discernment with Our Theological Metaphors
1980's Metaphors We Live By is a classic book by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. The authors suggest that the conceptual metaphors we use in day-to-day conversations both reflect and create the way we think, feel, perceive, and interact in the world. A popular American metaphor like "time is money" shapes our collective cultural values and cultivates our individual interior … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Calls for Discernment with Our Theological Metaphors
Beatnik Christianity Understands Theology As Humanity’s Pursuit of God
Theology technically means the study of God. Wikipedia expands it out to "the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief." That's fine, but I prefer to define theology as "humanity's pursuit both of knowledge of, and communion with, God." As someone who believes the meaning of life is connection--with God, with other people, and with the … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Understands Theology As Humanity’s Pursuit of God
Beatnik Christianity Values Living Tradition While Despising Dead Traditionalism
C.S. Lewis once wrote that history is "a story written by the finger of God." For the Christian, there is a profound and inseparable link between one’s faith and history. Judeo-Christian thought is distinguished from that of all other world religions precisely because of the weight attributed to history. Not only did God moor the incarnational revelation of His character, plan, … [Read more...] about Beatnik Christianity Values Living Tradition While Despising Dead Traditionalism
